AT hikers must have magnets

[Lion King]

SO, I am getting on the Amtrak in Chicago last night and we get asigned seating.

This cool girl with dreds comes over and says she has the seat next to me. Cool, shes cute and seems fun and it beats some big old stinky dude sitting next to me.

Within a few minutes I find out she thru-hiked SoBo last year.

Rachelle, "Runway" from 2007...we goofed out till about 3 in the morning trail talking and watching it snow out the windows.

Crazy man, no matter where I go, there seem to be former ATers.

She hiked with Seaweed Sally.

Its a small trail...

[Plodderman]

It is a small world when it comes to hikers we seem to drawn to one another.

[Lion King]

It is a small world when it comes to hikers we seem to drawn to one another.

Agreed, but whats really odd is where I run into former hikers.

Farmers markets in LA, random trains, towns no where near the AT...just crazy man.

WHo here is amathmatician????

Lets figure what the odds are.

Lets see, take the number of AT Hikers total, the worlds population (Or just the US if thats easier) the number of states and sqaure miles, hours in a day and maybe we can get an idea of what the odds are of running into a former hiker in just about any spot in the Country.

any math pros out there???

[nitewalker]

seaweed sally , that girl can downrite hike. i hiked thru the shenandoahs with her and a group of 10 or so last yr. she was the 1st person to the bearfence mtn hut on day two.we had a great time the whole five days thru the park.....

[Blissful]

I was meeting with Boo Boo who we met SOBO in Vermont in '07 at the IHOP here in Charlottesville in October. We were talking but I kept thinking this family nearby keeps staring at us. Not sure why they would as we are talking trail stuff. Until this tall man pops over, it's 357 Magnum who also did the trail in '07 NOBO and whom we had seen off and on that year on the trail. I plan to post the picture of the three of us soon.

A very small world.

[Serial 07]

i totally know runway...that's too crazy...met her in glencliff...ah man, that's funny...i gotta make some calls...

[Sly]

Get a date?

[Serial 07]

if you're talking to me, no...she vortexed one of my boys into a zero at the hostel there...dang, that was a great time though...fat chap and mala were there...i could probably run through a list of 12 that were kicking it there for a couple of days...we did some slack packin' and some good ol' fashion dream living...good times...

[Serial 07]

to make it all the crazier, i met her where Lion King has his location, and he met her where i have mine... ...put that in your smoke and pipe it...

[saimyoji]

any math pros out there???

PM Minnesota Smith

[Lone Wolf]

chicks with dreads ain't cute

[Tin Man]

chicks with dreads ain't cute

thank you

[TwistedToad]

chicks with dreads ain't cute

I dont agree with you there... I think they are! But to each his own...

[Dogwood]

I got another one Lion King.

During my 06 AT thru-hike I get off the trail to head back to NJ for my brother's wedding. In an all night downpour, I spend the night locked inside the bus terminal at White River Junction in Vermont with Teatree. The terminal was closed for the night, but the attendant mercifully allowed us to sleep inside. We laugh alot and share trail stories until the early morning hours. We're both waiting for buses that leave in the morning. We both go our separate ways.

While thru-hiking the JMT SoBo in 07 in the Sierra Nevadas in central Cal I meet a Nobo PCT hiker named NAFTA. We sit down and share trail beta. He goes his way. I go mine.

For almost a yr., I'm getting the inside dope about the PCT by playing E-mail tag with former PCT thru-hiker A-Train. He's a great help, but since I've never met him in person I can't thank him face to face.

This yr., at the Rodriguez water tank in the Mojave desert in SoCal, while on my PCT thru-hike, someone calls me by my trailname. Another hiker overhearing this, who I never met, says, "so you're Dogwood". It's A-Train! A-Train yells over to his friend, "hey Teatree, meet the guy I've been E-Mailing about the PCT". Teatree and I stare at each other. Almost simultaneously, we both say, "I know you". Wait it gets better! Teatree, yells out to another friend, " hey NAFTA this is Dogwood"!

[Dogwood]

One more.

On the AT in 06, I've been hearing about this guy Baltmore Jack nearly everday since Springer Mt. Some present him like he's a legendary godlike figure. Others present him as one of the most nefarious wayward individuals you'll ever meet in the woods. I really don't know what to expect if I ever do happen to meet him! I'm torn with the thought should I consider myself fortunate to meet him or should I run the other way if he ever gets near me! I do know, if he's done half of the hiking he's attributed to having done I certainly can learn something about hiking from him. Maybe, he can even share some tips on how to eat healthy on the trail?

While playing pool at the bar in Hot Springs, I meet this middle aged dissheveled hiker who resembles something between an overweight John Mellencamp and Bowser from Sha NaNa - black tee shirt with rolled up short sleeves and lit cigarette squeezed between his lips. Seems like a well spoken individual. I kick his ass in pool three games straight. But, he's a gracious loser. He says, "hi my name is Jack, good game, they call me Baltimore Jack". Like, Mrs. GORP once told me, "U can say alot of things about Baltimore Jack, but no one can dispute, Baltimore loves the AT and he loves hikers. He does a lot for the AT".

[Tennessee Viking]

A couple long distance cousins PMed about the Tennessee section this last summer. I didn't know them. And I find out through the family grapevine that some my cousins did a weekend section at the sametime, and I started putting 2 & 2 together.

I got hiking cousins. Who would of thunk it...lol

[Ramble~On]

I got another one Lion King.

During my 06 AT thru-hike I get off the trail to head back to NJ for my brother's wedding. In an all night downpour, I spend the night locked inside the bus terminal at White River Junction in Vermont with Teatree. The terminal was closed for the night, but the attendant mercifully allowed us to sleep inside. We laugh alot and share trail stories until the early morning hours. We're both waiting for buses that leave in the morning. We both go our separate ways.

While thru-hiking the JMT SoBo in 07 in the Sierra Nevadas in central Cal I meet a Nobo PCT hiker named NAFTA. We sit down and share trail beta. He goes his way. I go mine.

For almost a yr., I'm getting the inside dope about the PCT by playing E-mail tag with former PCT thru-hiker A-Train. He's a great help, but since I've never met him in person I can't thank him face to face.

This yr., at the Rodriguez water tank in the Mojave desert in SoCal, while on my PCT thru-hike, someone calls me by my trailname. Another hiker overhearing this, who I never met, says, "so you're Dogwood". It's A-Train! A-Train yells over to his friend, "hey Teatree, meet the guy I've been E-Mailing about the PCT". Teatree and I stare at each other. Almost simultaneously, we both say, "I know you". Wait it gets better! Teatree, yells out to another friend, " hey NAFTA this is Dogwood"!

That's cool.

[hammock engineer]

Good old Runway. I was at Ron Bird's with her and a few others and caught back up in NY somewhere. Never did catch Seaweed or the group of 12 or so. I seemed to always be 5 days back.

Runway could also put up the miles. I remember her weighing her pack at Upper Goose pond to be around 22 lbs. That was including 4 cans of beer and a glass fifth of wiskey.

Coffee

[slingblade]

Is that Seaweed Sally of NOBO 2000? Her brother is Monkey Boy?

[hammock engineer]

Not sure. She did hike northbound before.